Only the Eyes Are Broken
by KrasnyCassandra
Summary: In retrospect, he should have known it was a bad idea to bring her into his bed.
1. Chapter 1

In retrospect, he should have known it was a bad idea to bring her into his bed. In his defense, though, _all_ ideas formed at 4am were inherently bad. Auggie tried to shift his weight without moving the leggy blonde currently sprawled across his body. With a stifled groan he gave up and closed his eyes, cursing, once again, the fire suppression systems at the University of Maryland.

It was supposed to have been a simple job, but, apparently, there was no such thing where Annie Walker was concerned. All she had to do was drive across the Potomac and meet with a Pakistani national studying chemical engineering at UM: a nice, easy, _simple, _initial contact meeting. The student's father had friends in high places and the young man himself very much wanted to stay in the United States. Their intel said he had no interest in religion, politics, or espionage. Annie needed to convince him to have some passing interest in all three and that he would be able to stay in school in the States if he cooperated.

But somehow (Auggie privately thought it was because the cosmos just loved to see what new mayhem it could create with Annie at the center), Agent Walker stumbled into a college prank gone horribly wrong. Just as she was completing her initial meeting with the target, the fire alarms went off. The library used an aerosolized foam rather than water, for obvious reasons, and that system was also triggered. Annie was caught up in the general chaos that followed. Being Annie, she couldn't just find the nearest exit and head back to Langley. No, Annie had to make sure that everyone else exited the building safely. In the process she breathed in far too much of the fire retardant.

She was still hacking and wheezing when Jai brought her back from College Park. Joan couldn't send her home, since Annie had already told her family that she would be on the Mall setting up for the Smithsonian's annual cultural event. A fire at the Smithsonian, or on the Mall, would have made the news. Without that as a cover, Annie had no business sounding like a lifelong smoker with terminal lung cancer. Auggie, being Auggie, had volunteered to take her to his place. He certainly wasn't going to let Jai volunteer.

Everything had gone smoothly once they reached Auggie's loft. Annie changed into a t-shirt and shorts; Auggie ordered food. The paramedics had dosed Annie with inhaled steroids to help her lungs open up. The CIA docs topped that with a prescription for some heavy duty expectorants to get the rest of the gunk out of her airways. Given that cocktail, Auggie wisely decided to forego the tequila. She'd passed out quickly enough, snoring softly on his shoulder. He left her curled up on the couch.

Until, a retching, hacking, coughing fit woke him at 4am. She was gasping for air and beginning to hyperventilate with panic. It took fifteen minutes of rubbing her back and speaking in soothing words before she started breathing correctly. His own breathing was none too steady by that point. Hearing Annie in distress over a com-link was bad enough, having her gasping for air in his arms made his chest constrict and his gut clench. One way or the other, Annie Walker was going to be the death of him.

And how true that thought was, because when he'd try to coax her back to sleep on the couch she'd whimpered and clung to his arms. Now what guy would have left her alone after that? Well, that bastard Ben Mercer had, twice, but he was an idiot. Auggie scooped her up (glad that he kept up with his Special Forces workouts) and carried her to the bed. She was sick and needed him. He had on a pair of loose pajama-style sweats and she was still in her tank and shorts. They were friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Annie shifted in her sleep, her thigh riding up and over Auggie's own, very tense, thigh and bringing him back to his present problems. Of its own accord his hand began to stroke her knee. Damn it, how short _were_ those shorts? Her hair tangled around his other arm. She murmured something in her sleep and stretched. Auggie couldn't suppress the groan that action caused.

He knew the moment her eyes flickered open, even though he couldn't see. The muscle in her thigh tensed under his still stroking fingers.

"Auggie?" Her voice was slightly hoarse, but she sounded much better.

"Good morning sweetheart." He winced as soon as the endearment left his mouth. It sounded far less flippant than he had intended. She tensed again, trying to sit up.

Auggie growled. His hand clenched her thigh, holding the leg she had thrown across his body in place. He turned his head slightly so that when he spoke his lips brushed feather light half-kisses along her hairline. "Annie you've really got to be still. Let me get up and get a shower." A long _cold_ shower, he thought. "Then I will get you some breakfast.

"Ok," she whispered. The sound of trembling awareness in her voice made that inner not-just-a-friend part of Auggie roar with triumph. If that part of him had its way, he'd hear Annie whisper a thousand endearments in just such a voice. "But why do I have to be still?" She flexed the leg under his hand.

Control frayed to breaking, Auggie flipped her neatly onto her back. He gripped her wrists, on in each hand, and secured them over her head. He didn't need imagination to know how she looked right now. Every hyper-sensitive nerve in his skin told him exactly how she felt and looked. He buried his face in the tangle of hair beside her ear. "Because, Annie Walker, I think you've forgotten that only my eyes are broken." He rocked his hips against her, letting her feel exactly what she did to him. "The rest of me works just fine." He indulged his raging hormones for a moment longer. With a nip at the sensitive junction of her neck and shoulder, he released her hands and pushed himself up and off of her.

As he congratulated himself for a supreme mastery of his body, Annie's voice asked from the bed behind him: "Oh, Auggie. What makes you think I forgot?"


	2. Chapter 2

When Auggie disappeared into the bathroom – and firmly shut the door – Annie flopped backward onto the pillow. She stared at the ceiling, hardly believing what had just happened.

Waking up to find herself curled around the toned form of August Anderson had been… _Oomph_ was all her brain could manage. She'd seen Auggie working out, even seen him without his shirt a time or two. This, though, was different. Those arms caging her, those hard, sinewy thighs rigid beneath her…

_Oomph_, her brain said again. She turned to bury her head in the pillow and was immediately overwhelmed with the clean, yet entirely masculine, scent of her handler and best friend. This was his bed, after-all. Of course the sheets and pillows would still be warm from his body.

_What are you doing, Annie Walker? Your life isn't complicated enough without lusting after your best friend? Your best friend AND CO-WORKER? Sure, the CIA supposedly encourages inter-agency dating. But Joan is like a mamma-bear around Auggie. Would she take kindly to me breaking his heart? Let's face it, in the end I damage the guys in my life. I cannot afford to hurt Auggie- not professionally and it would kill me personally._

The doorbell ringing, followed almost immediately by a hard knock, tore Annie from her thoughts. She glanced at the bathroom door but decided that answering the front door herself was definitely preferable to walking in on Auggie in the shower. She shook her head, trying to rid her mind of the images of that naked body stretched out, water dripping down his…

_God, Annie, pull it together._

Apparently Auggie had heard the doorbell and insistent knocking. The water sounds ceased and his voice shouted from the bathroom. "Get back in bed, Annie. Don't you dare answer that door."

She grinned. By the time she heard him emerge from the bathroom, she'd yanked open the door to smile at…

"Jai?"

He cut his dark eyes down, and then back up more slowly, taking in every inch of her bare skin. That look should have either made her feel dirty or weak kneed. Mostly she just felt ridiculous.

For his part Jai didn't miss the loose t-shirt and very short shorts, the mussed hair, the blush coloring her cheeks, or the faintest red mark on her neck peeking through the tangled waves. "I stopped by to make sure you were all right. Do you need anything?"

"I'm uh, fine. Better, really. I think I'll head home after breakfast. You're sweet for stopping by."

"I don't like the idea of you knowing where I live, Wilcox, much less the idea of you showing up at 8am on a Saturday."

Jai rolled his eyes for Annie's benefit. "Give it up, Anderson. I know where you live, what beer you like to drink, the tequila you like to ply Annie with after a mission, even the name of the last woman you slept with."

Annie narrowed her eyes. Jai had gone from sweet, caring friend to caustic bitterness in 60 seconds. She opened her mouth to snap at him but no sound came out. A long, slightly damp, very bare, arm circled her waist. She teetered slightly as her whole body was pulled backwards against the tense man behind her. She felt the droplets of water transfer from his chest to the back of her shirt. She felt the humid heat of his towel plastered against her bare thighs. Her pupils dilated, her breath shuddered out of her still open mouth, and her body trembled.

Auggie dipped his head to nuzzle Annie's neck. "Well that last shouldn't have been too hard to figure out." He raised his head and gave his best cat-that-got-the-cream grin. "She's fine Jai. I'll feed her and tuck her back in bed and make sure she doesn't try to save the entire world in one weekend. Thanks for stopping by." With his free right hand he grabbed the door and slammed it in Jai Wilcox's face- somewhat chagrined that the nosy bastard hadn't been standing _in_ the doorway when the door shut.

_Oh my… oh hells no, he did not just allude that we slept together last night to Jai Wilcox! Joan will cut me in little pieces and feed me to… whatever she can find. Oh God Oh God…_

He was still holding her – tightly. She could feel each deep, steady breath he took. She could feel a great deal, in fact.

_Only the eyes are broken indeed._

"I cannot believe you just said that. DID, that."

"Did what?" The hand he'd used to slam the door in Jai's face was now gently stroking the back of her hand where it lay against her leg.

"Don't you _dare_ play the innocent with me, August Anderson. You basically told Jai that we slept together last night!" She tried to twist out of his grip. Her anger would be much better conveyed face-to-face.. and with at least five feet between them. Those soft stroking finger clasped her wrist. The arm across her waist locked into place. She huffed her displeasure.

She made an entirely different noise when his lips skimmed over her ear.

"We _did_ sleep together last night, Annie. Jai was stopping by just to goad me. I'm your handler. I'm _handling_ the situation."

Her snort was authentic Annie.

"The protective parts of me work just fine, too, Annie." Those damned soft lips skipped lightly over her shoulder. He released her and turned her, hands on her shoulders, toward the bedroom. "Get back in bed before you start coughing and getting Terrapin germs all over my apartment."

She giggled. "Yes sir."

_But he's not letting go. Those fingers aren't holding my shoulders and they aren't pushing me. They are … oh hells, yes, they are CARESSING me. I am so totally screwed."_

"Auggie?"

"Mm?"

"You have to let me go if you expect me to get back in your bed."

"I'll try not to think too hard on the dual meaning of that sentence." With a final squeeze he released her.

Annie turned at the doorway between kitchen and bedroom. "Wait. Are you going to cook in only that towel?"

His answer was a trade-marked Anderson smirk.

_Oomph_, her brain said.

**Thanks for all the kind reviews; I am flattered and honored.**

**As always, the copyrights and trademarks for Covert Affairs are retained by their original holders. This story is for entertainment only and no commercial purpose is intended.**

**Oh, and the "terrapin germs" bit is a reference to the University of Maryland mascot: a terrapin. If you'll recall, this whole "mess" started when Annie was on a mission on the UM campus.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Two weeks later….**

"Annie this is ridiculous. Why can't you just take me home? I promise I'll stay in all weekend."

Annie rolled her eyes, long past caring that her best friend – her IDIOT best friend- couldn't see the facial expression. "Two steps up here." She kept a firm grip under his elbow. "Don't lie to me Auggie. We both know you'd find a way to walk right back into Langely, tomorrow."

"Would not."

Auggie's pout was adorable, but Annie was impervious to his wiles. _Well_, she thought, _sometimes impervious. Sometimes I'm…_ "Hey Scrabble champ, what's the opposite of impervious?"

His eyebrows made a "v" across his brow at the sudden change in subject. "Again with the not making sense…" Something hard hit him at the back of his knees.

"There's a window seat behind you. Sit." She watched while he sat and then knelt in front of him. She hid her smirk when he tensed. Auggie had a hyper-awareness of the people around him, especially where she was concerned. He jerked and tried to stand when she grabbed hold of his left ankle. "Calm down, prudence. I'm taking your shoe off, not assaulting your virtue." She took both shoes, and his socks for good measure, ensuring that if he escaped he would have to do so barefoot.

As she stood up he reached out and clasped her wrist. His face turned upward, he softly asked, "I thought we'd moved past the initial assault phase?"

And there it was. For the past two weeks they had both tried so hard to pretend everything was the same, hunky-dory, a-ok. But, Annie admitted, it wasn't the same. She still woke up every morning and felt some-how more alone. She still remembered the feel of his lean, hard, body stretched atop her, and the feel of his arms caging her against him. That very, very, bad part of her very, very, much wanted to know what his lips would feel like on her lips – because they had felt like heaven trailing kisses down her neck.

Auggie hadn't been acting normally either. There were no more friendly brush-passes in the hallway, no attempts to intrude into her personal space in the office or on the elevator. Although it was a sad impossibility, she was sure she felt him watching her every move.

"Yeah well now you've taken to assaulting cars with your body. What the hell, Auggie?"

He winced and let go of her wrist to hold his head in both hands. "Shhh. Blind, not deaf."

"Ice, you need ice. I'll be right back. Stay."

If his head hadn't been hosting the national drumline championships, Auggie would have barked like an obedient dog. As it was, he tried to sit very still and think quiet thoughts. Annie was still too tense around him. She was still jumpy and stand-off-ish and far too distant. They really needed to talk, but right now all he could do was moan.

"Cliché as it is, did you happen to get a look at the truck that hit me?"

"Har har. Here." She took his hand away from his temple, placed an ice pack in his palm and moved his arm so that he held the ice against the base of his skull. "It wasn't a truck, just a mid-sized sedan. Explain to me again how no one else managed to see, and thus stop, a hit and run in the parking lot of a secure government facility?"

Auggie grimaced. "Insert blind joke here." He rolled his shoulders experimentally. "If I didn't know better I'd say someone out there doesn't like me."

Annie's hands, of their own volition, reached out to tangle in his brown curls. "Silly Auggie. There are LOTS of people who don't like you."

He didn't want to speak, afraid she'd stop the impromptu scalp massage.

"Of course, they are all vapid sluts who cannot remember the last book they read…" She smiled when he chuckled. "That scared the crap out of me Auggie. Your head _bounced_ off the pavement. I…" She swallowed audibly and blinked away sudden tears.

He dropped the ice pack to reach up and take her hands in his. "Hey. I'm ok. You heard the EMTs, just a mild concussion and a few bruises. I should watch where I'm going, blah blah.. How many times have I told you that you cannot get rid of me that easily?" He waited. She was silent. For the billionth time he cursed his inability to see her face. "I'm right here Annie. I'm not leaving you."

He felt as much as heard her soft sob. It took only the slightest downward pressure to bring her down onto his lap. Auggie leaned back, pulling her head against his shoulder. One hand cupped her nape while the other rested lightly on her legs. She was sitting sideways across him. It felt perfectly natural and easy. He'd been missing this, these past two weeks: the easy comfort of touching, and being touched by, Annie. He kissed her forehead. Relief flooded through him when she didn't pull away.

"Annie we need to talk. We've never discussed…"

Whatever he was going to say was undoubtedly sweet and heartfelt. Annie, though, wasn't in the mood for words. The let-down of the adrenaline high she'd been riding for the past hour left her shaking and vulnerable. She lifted her head off the muscled shoulder beneath her while her hand rose to stroke his cheek. With just the slightest of tugs she pulled his head down to hers and kissed him.

**A/N: Yes it was supposed to be a one shot. Then y'all seduced me with the glory of your reviews and this thing has morphed into a writhing demon that won't leave me alone! There will be more, I promise.**


	4. Chapter 4

_I should stop her. She's crashing from the adrenaline. She'll hate me for taking advantage. She'll hate me for being here to see her so vulnerable. I should stop her._

That was what Auggie's few remaining mature brain cells were screaming inside his bruised head.

_No way in hell I'm stopping!_

That would be the majority opinion heard from. The majority of his brain, muscles and, hell, _him_, wanted nothing more than to explore every inch of the blonde sprawled across his lap. Before she'd shocked him to his toes with this impromptu kiss, Auggie had been cupping her head against his shoulder. The fingers of that hand now staged a full-scale rebellion against common sense and the decent bounds of friendship. They tangled in her hair and pulled her head slightly to the right. When she gasped for air his tongue joined the rebellion and added invasion to the mix.

Annie might smell like sunshine on a citrus grove, but she tasted of mint and coffee. She moaned against him, drowning out those few remaining sensible voices in Auggie's head. Annie Walker was in his lap, and, for once, not as the most expedient way to exit a motor vehicle. She was willingly kissing him. Decency and the bounds of friendship be damned. He was a spy, not a saint.

"Annie? Hey are you.. OH!"

Danielle's sudden entrance, and exclamation, made both Auggie and Annie jump. Annie stood up and spun to face her sister. Auggie collapsed against the back of the window seat and tried to control his raging headache – and other aches.

Annie pushed her sister back out the door of the guest house and slid it shut behind her. She wasn't embarrassed to be caught with Auggie; she was mad that Danielle had killed the moment. All Annie wanted was to slam the door in her sister's face and crawl right back into Auggie's lap. Fat chance that would happen now. They would both be too awkward and distracted. Now things would revert to the tense silences and abnormal distances of the past two weeks.

"Annie I'm _so_ sorry." Danielle's face was mask of remorse. "I had no idea…"

"It's fine Danielle. Did you need something?"

"No I just came to ask if you were joining us for dinner but, forget it. I'm sorry." She backed up and waved her hand. "Have _fun_."

"Danielle!" Annie wrinkled her nose at her sister's implication, forgetting that she'd just spent the last few minutes thinking of ways to get her best friend completely naked. She turned around, took a deep breath and re-entered the guest house.

Auggie was sitting much the way she'd left him, except that he re-applied the ice back to the back of his head.

"Big sis give you any good tips?"

Annie stopped and blinked at him. He still looked tense, but his smirk and flippant comment sounded like best-friend-Auggie, not frustrated-lover-Auggie. Maybe he was glad Danielle had interrupted them? Could she have mis-read him that badly?

_I can't see her. I hate this torture. Is she sticking her tongue out at me and grinning like the impudent friend, or is she staring at me? If she's staring is it because she's deciding which part of me to devour first, or because she's horrified that she kissed me? Please, God, Annie, say something._

She must have taken her shoes off at some point. He had a nano-second to register the sound of her stocking feet on the hardwood floor before her slim fingers closed around his wrist. Without a word she pulled him across the floor. He stopped when she placed a hand on each shoulder to hold him in place. Then, he nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt his shirt tugged up and out of the waistband of his jeans. Her cool fingers slid across the bare skin at his waist before they started to tug on the buttons of the shit.

"Annie?" He tried not to squeak, but it was hard when he felt as off-balance as a fifteen year-old.

"Those EMTs you so cavalierly ignored said you needed to rest in a "monitored environment". Whether you like it or not, that means lying down and resting in my bed with me staring at you while you sleep."

"Creepy yet vaguely kinky." He waggled his brows. "Ow! Take it easy on the injured guy," he protested when she lightly slugged him in the shoulder.

"Hush while I get this shirt off of you."

It took two tries, but Auggie finally managed to capture both of her hands. "Annie." He waited, listening to the sounds of the house around them, but hearing nothing from the woman in front of him. "You're chewing on your lip, aren't you?"

She immediately stopped. "No."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Ok, fine I was. Look, I just want to return the favor, take care of you for once. You're always looking out for me and coming to my rescue and…."

_When in doubt, try kissing her again. Never failed me in the past, doesn't seem to be failing me now._ His lips were soft and gentle. He didn't pull her close or move at all from their current positions. After just that one, slow, kiss he lifted his head and smiled down at her. "I've still got enough of the spec-ops team leader in me to want to be take charge. That means e_verywhere_, Annie. I'm not sure what you want or where this is going. I do know what I want, and 95% of me wants to take charge and _take_ what I want." He stroked his thumbs over the back of her hands. "But this is as much about what you want and need. I refuse to hurt you."

"What if I hurt you?"

His soft smile broke her heart. "Annie Walker, I took down two trained assassins on a speeding train. Just this afternoon I hip checked a car and I'm _BLIND_. What makes you think a little thing like you can hurt me?"

She stood on her tiptoes, leaning her weight against him. He had to choose between wrapping his arms around her waist or toppling over backwards. It wasn't a hard choice. "I think it's a little early for those kind of games but if that's what you are into…" She shrieked in his ear when he tickled her. He couldn't hide the wince that shriek induced. His head really was pounding.

She didn't miss the wince. Immediately contrite she went back to work on his buttons.

"Let's get you out of this shirt and into bed."

"Promise you'll watch over me?"

She trailed her fingers over the impressive muscles of his shoulders. He felt her breath slide across his back when she whispered: "For as long as you'll have me."

**A/N: I kind of feel like this fic jumped the shark. Should I have left it with just chapter 1 or just 1 and 2? Please let me know what you think. Anyway, this is the conclusion for this storyline. I have other Annie and Auggie goodness to write.**


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